Means for casting steel ingots



(No Model.)

J. & G. J'.,TRAN,T,ER. Means for Cast No. 241,758.

ing Steel Ingots.

Patented -May 17',` |881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT i OEETcEQ JAMES TRANTER AND CHARLES J. TltANTER, OF COVINGTON, KENTUCKY.

MEANS FOR CASTING STEELiINGOTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters `Patent No. 241,758, dated `May 17, 1881.

Application filed January 10, 1881. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that we, J AMES TRANTER and GHARLEs J. TRANTER, both of Covington, Kenton county, Kentucky, have jointly invented 4a new and useful means for Casting Steel Ingots, of which the following is a specific-ation.

Our invention was originally designed and is more especially intended to facilitate and bring a single run within easy control of one pitman and founder, it is customary to convey the molten steel from the ladle through a tall runner anda suitably gated bed into the lower ends of a'compact assemblage of h igh vertical molds, the ingots produced in which are, at great expenditure of power and wear and tear ,of machinery and considerable waste of material, cu't or severed into rough blocks or fragments approximating the desiredweights. The defects of this mode of operation, which were less conspicuous under the comparatively slow and limited manufacture of steel by smelting,`

puddling, and cementation, have lately become manifest; but no practical solution of the problem has, to our knowledge, been heretofore l suggested.

Among the more serious objections to the practice hitherto employed may be cited the great expenditure of power required tosever into fragments a slab of steel, sometimesa foot or more thick, by cutting either with the shears or chisel; the frequent breaking of the ponderous machinery employed for that purpose, which, beside the expenses of repair, involves the enforced idleness of one or more gangs of laborers during inaction of the machinery 5 the impossibility of producing billets having any near approximation to the desired weight; the formation ot' fins and like jagged projections, lwhich, in the subsequent processes of tilting, rolling, or forging, failing to fully weld or in-` corporate with the body ofthe billet, cause hid! den faults and aws. f Our improved means consists of the provision, in each mold', of a series of superimposed compartments separated by partitions secured horizontally within each mold, each partition being gated for passage of the molten steel, and being either composed of or coated with a refractory substance. The adherence of the component sections of each in got cast in such `mold Ais such as to keepeach in got intact for withdrawal from the mold, as well as for subsequent-handling, storage, or shipment; but such also as, at any desired moment, to per mit the ready separation of one or more component sections. Our system, while securing in a greater degree than heretofore the advantages of high vertical casting and of transportation intact, as already stated, enables each component section to be made compact and homogeneous throughout, of any desired sym- 'metrical form and size, of a precise weight, and

readily separable when desired.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a partly sectioned elevation of a casting apparatus such as employed in our improved process. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a mold.

fFig. 3 represents two partitions and a capplate. Fig. ais a section, to a larger scale,

through one of the partitions. Fig. 5 isa side elevation, partly in vertical section, of a parltitioned ingot. Fig. (i is a face view of a partition or boundary plate` with designating- 4nmrks. Fig. 7 represents the corresponding ingot-face.

' A is a bed'plate or slab, whose bottom and marginal portions, a, are preferably of castiron, and Whose portion b, in 'contact with the molds and runner, and forming the walls ot' the conducting-passages of the molten metal,

is of tire-tile or other refractory material.

The bed-plate communicates, at or near its center, with the lower extremity of a tall 'vertical pipe, C, called the runner,7 which is surmounted by a funnel, D. Both runner and funnel are lined with nre-clay E, or other refractory material. Numerous passa-ges rF in ICO the non-metallic portion of the bed-plate conduct from the foot of the runner tothe lower' extremities of as many vertical molds G, preferably of cast-iron, which molds taper slightly upward in the manner represented. rlwo of these molds are shown in the figure. Each mold has ears H for engagement of the cranetackle for lifting of the respective molds to and from their places 011 the bed-plate. The taper form of the interior of the mold enables it to be readily withdrawn from the cast ingot after the latter has set. The tapering form of the mold interior also facilitates the insertion and temporary fixture of one or more horizontal partitions, J, which partitions constitute the distinguishing feature of our means for producing the partitioned ingots, whose manufacture is the ultimate object of our invention. Each partition has on its margin, as in Figs. 2 and 3, gates or passages j for ascent of the molten steel. Our partitions are either wholly or superlicially of a refractory material, our preferred construction being a sheet, j', of thick sheet-iron-such as boiler-plate scraps coated, j, with black-wash, plumbago, fire-clay, or other refractory substance.-

In addition to the partitions J, embedded in the mold and constituting a part of our composite in got, we preferably employ one or more end or boundary plates, J J, near'the top of the mold. The plate or slab J we designate the capJ The cap J' has several important uses. It arrests the ebullition and'delagration of the rising body of molten metal, and in so doing prevents overiiow and coacts with the pressure derived from the column of molten metal in the runner, to secure solidity and sharpness of form at the extreme summit of the ingot. It is also useful by separating from the ingot-body thel overrun K, to enable its easy removal by chisel while the metal is still hot.

We also sometimes employ a similar plate, F, called the sole plate,77 for the more perfect separation of the in got from the bed-plate, and smoother iinish of the ingot-base.

Our above described and preferred means are susceptible of various modifications. For

example, instead of wrought-iron the partitions may be composed of refractory semisteel or cast-iron, and may have any desired letters, figures, or other distinguishing marks, either in raised form, as in Fig. 6, or in intaglio, so as to produce a corresponding reverse impression upon the contiguous billetface, as in'Fig. 7; or such characters may be impressed upon the wrought partitions by the die employed to form them from the boilerscrap or other material.

While preferring to use our partitions J and boundary plate or plates J J in the described connection with taper molds, we re` serve the right to employ such partitions in molds of parallel walls having longitudinal partings clamped or keyed together, and suitable shoulders or recesses to hold the partitions.

The respective partitions and'boundary or end plates being cut in a suitable die, or by other means formed to the proper dimensions, and being coated with fire-clay or other refractory substance, are forced into the mold, soas to become jammed tightly therein, as seen in Fig. 1. The molten steel, rising through the mold from one compartment to another, compactly fills all of the interstices and embeds the partitions in its substance. The dimensions of the mold and the specific gravity of the metal being, known, the partitions may obviously be formed of such dimensions as to produce billets of the precise weight desired, and these billets may have suitable designatory marks, as indicated in Fig. 7^. The said castings havingbecome sufficiently set, their taper form and slight adhesion of their parts enable their easy withdrawal, with their-accompanyin g partition-plates, and their removal for storage intact for any desired period.

When it is desired to detach one or more sections the separation is easily accamplished by a blow from a Sledge or drop.

Mold-separating plates, as heretofore used at the ends of the molds or in open troughs, are less desirable than plates, ever so little, within the molds, on account of the liability to form locking overliows or fins.

The benefit of connecting the ingots by a small neck or sprue at one edge is the facility of separation after the partitions are removed by a simple blow without a cutting or a cleaving instrument. n

The product herein described is claimed in another application of even date herewith.

We are aware that ingots have been cast in connected molds' or divided troughs, and thatv U-plates have been inserted in slots in vthemold sides for facilitating the chipping o' of apiece of'm'et'al to ascertain its quality. Such modes of casting we do not therefore claim.

Our invention consists, as hereinbefore IOO stated, in means for producing ingotssubdividedA by accom panyin g' partitions.

Having thus described our invention, the following is whatwe claim asv new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

Thecombination, with a tall upwardly-tapered vertical mold for casting steel or semisteel subdivided partitioned ingots, of one or more separable transverse gated plates composed of or faced with a refractory substance, andof such forms and dimensions as to fit tightly against the inside ofthe mold at any desired part or parts of its height, as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony of which invention we hereunto set our hands.

JAMES TRANTER.

GHAS. J. TRANTER.

Attest:

GEO. H. KNIGHT, S. S. CARPENTER. 

